15 posts categorized "China vacation (2008)"

April 29, 2008

The girls fell asleep before we got in the van so we loaded their strollers into the van (with them still sleeping in them) and drove to a Hangzhou tea village. Since they were still asleep when we arrived and unloaded the strollers, I stayed with them until Andrew finished the tour. I don't care much about tea but he was born in England and I'm pretty sure I once read somewhere that Brits bleed either Marmite or tea if you cut them. I can't confirm this but I have experienced his gift for writing and I can assure you that you'll love reading about his tea village tour experience here:

(Andrew typing) We visited the Meijiawu tea village in Hangzhou, where they make Long Jing (Dragon Well) tea. The girls were sleeping, and Donna's not as passionate about tea, so she sat with them while I went in for the tour. We started with the tea plant itself and a demonstration of processing tea. From picking to being ready to drink the tea is dried twice and goes through various forms of processing -- all this can readily be completed within 8 hrs, so you can drink the same day you pick. I was a little surprised at the tea plants themselves. They're unremarkable oversized shrubbery, maybe four feet across and three feet high. Only the fresh green leaves are picked, and there are three picking seasons: spring (the best), summer, and autumn. Each bush can live for around a hundred years, but each 25, it must be cut back to the roots and given three years to rejuvenate. The new leaves are picked and then dried -- they're dumped into a big vat kept at around 200C, and some poor soul sticks his hand into this oven and stirs them around in a complicated manner.

After that high-level process overview, I went inside to a beautiful tea garden, showcasing a statue of a solomonic-looking fellow who turned out to be tea master Lu Yu, revered for his wisdom in pronouncing the local tea the best in China. Per this declaration, Long Jing has been formalized as the national tea of China, and various complex grading systems have been put in place. There's even a system by which individual batches are labeled with a seal of approval that contains a lottery-style scratch-off number whose correctness can be verified by the buyer at an online website.

After hanging with Yu, I continued to the next pavilion where a tea expert (saleswoman) would help me to understand (buy) tea. She had mastered the snap transition from imperious to servile depending on whether she addressed me or the underlings -- I had encountered this before in high-end rug dealers, so knew myself to be in capable hands. An underling poured water into glasses moving the kettle up and down three times, signifying welcome. We would then tap three times, signifiying our gratitude. She showed me three plates of Long Jing tea leaevs, and explained the three key criteria for evaluating them: vegetal smell, light green color, and smaller leaves. By now our tea was ready for drinking. She instructed me to cover the glass with one hand, leaving a small opening, put my eye to the opening, and let the steam from the tea bathe my eyeball in ancient goodness. The vitamin A from the tea would counteract the effects of excessive reading or computer use. It's an unusual sensation.

After the eyeball bath, she reached in hushed reverence for another packet of tea and explained solemnly that she would now show me tea that wasn't available anywhere else -- not Shanghai or Beijing, certainly not whatever benighted country I came from, just right here outside Hangzhou, and only because I seemed to be a trustworthy sort with a passion for tea and a clean set of eyeballs. She unwrapped this new package and encouraged me to emote with her about how vegetal it smelled compared to the other tea that had been sitting around getting stale, which I did. She then suggested that I might be interested in buying some of this remarkable tea, which I was. We went through some price discussions, and she offered some highly complex package deals involving gift boxes of different sizes. I told her I didn't really drink caffeine, and she explained that green tea is low in caffeine and the highest quality tea required only 2/3 as many leaves as the next grade down, neatly skirting the issue that Long Jing is apparently surprisingly high in caffeine. I asked whether I could buy a smaller packet, and she told me that yes indeed I could, but she couldn't recommend that I waste my money in that way when the larger packet was slightly cheaper by weight. Once my small packet had been prepared, and its virtues extolled, she went on to offer me a wide variety of dried flowers that unfurl in boiling water producing rehydrated dried flowers (also known as "flowers") -- I was to imagine the potential for party fun involving guessing whether a jasmine or a chrysanthemum would eventually emerge. They were quite beautiful, but I demurred and was sent on my way with an efficiency that left my head reeling.

Oh, I forgot to mention: the surrondings of the tea village were stunning, and the tea being cultivated on the mountain is beautiful. It was a great trip, and I highly recommend it to anyone.

April 28, 2008

We left Beijing Saturday morning and flew to Xi'an where we were met by "Our New Friend", Alice. The girls have started referring to our tour guides that way and I guess it's convenient since we get a new one every few days and sometimes Mom and Dad can't keep their names straight. Heck, sometimes Mom and Dad can't even keep our own children's names straight!

Alice kept us busy from the moment our plane touched down until it left the city two days later. I can't remember the names of all the places we visited and I don't want to dig our itinerary out of an overpacked suitcase so you'll just have to be happy to look at some pictures here: Xi'an Photo Set

Those photos are mostly from our visit to the Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit but we have others that are really spectacular and I'll try to get those posted as soon as I can. I'm really behind in blog posting since our days are incredibly busy and life in this hotel room is pretty insane when the kids aren't sleeping. Last night, I stayed up until 1:00 am trying to spruce up and upload these photos to Flickr. It took so long because I didn't have a Pro account (something you need if you want to upload unlimited numbers of photos) and I didn't have the Flickr Uploader tool. Now I have both and I think I've got it all figured out so posting to the blog should be easier from this moment on....... if this post goes through (it's being sent from Flickr). My fingers are crossed!

April 24, 2008

Yes, we're still alive and well. It rained most of the time we were in Hong Kong so we got soaked while trying to soak up some of the sights. We took pictures but they're not loading to this blog correctly so I'm not even sure if the cute pic we took of our Empress Maddy is displaying to the left. Since Typepad blogs are blocked in Beijing, I can't check. Please comment and let me know? (Thanks Diana for letting me know you can see the pics! I'll try to add some more!)

We left Hong Kong on Sunday and should have been in Beijing by 6:00 PM but due to all the bad weather the day before, flights were backed up and were stuck at the airport for six hours and didn't get to Beijing until midnight.

We arrived at our hotel and discovered that the closest they could get to "adjoining" rooms was to have one room on the 11th floor and one room on the 5th. Since we can't split up our kids, that meant that Laura had one room and Andrew and I (and both of the girls) had another. But sleeping with our squirmmy 3 year olds wasn't the worst of it. Our hotel was the 'overflow' hotel for the World Wide Web Conference and it was supposed to be Four Star but it was so filthy that we were afraid to let the kids walk on the floor in their bare feet. As Gwenny drifted off to sleep, she said "Mommy, my pillow smells like smoke" and I wasn't too surprised since there was an empty pack of cigs in the trash can (maybe the maids chain-smoke while they clean?). Before going to bed, we wanted to plug in our cell phone charger and noticed that the electrical wiring was practically exposed and looked like something Dr Frankenstein might have used to bring his monster back to life. And there were vintage WW2 gas masks in the closet!! I think I slept with one eye open all night!

The next morning (Monday), we decided to check out of one of the rooms and leave Andrew there while the rest of us moved to a better hotel in the heart of the city (close to shopping - oh yeah!). Since Andrew is working at the WWW Conference all week, this seemed like the best solution to the hotel problem we were having.

Our new hotel is GORGEOUS! After checking in, our tour guide (Linda) took us shopping to replace our soggy Hong Kong shoes (moldy and smelly and probably growing new life forms in ziploc bags even as I type this) and then we went to the Acrobat show. The girls loved that show and even though they both missed their naps, I don't think they took their eyes off the stage or blinked the entire time we were there. Both of them cried when it was time to leave because they wanted us to buy another ticket and didn't understand why we wouldn't/couldn't. It was a very long day and we all fell exhaused into bed.

Tuesday morning, Gwen found the shoe horn in the closet and asked me what it was. I told her and she said "Mommy, how do you blow it?" Gosh, I love that adorable kid! We met Linda in the lobby and piled into the van for another action packed day at Tiannanmon Square and the Forbidden City. This trip was quite different from last time we were here. We didn't have Gwen yet, we were here with a large tour group of about 25 people, and it was about 100 degrees outside! Today, we're bundled up in as many layers of clothes as we packed and we were still a little bit chilly. Maddy looks even more Chinese in all those funky layers! Speaking of Maddy, once we were inside the Forbidden City, she announced for the 4th time since breakfast that she needed to p*ee-p*ee. This is very much the norm for Maddy so we came prepared with our little travel potty and she used it right there! Some day she'll tell her Grandkids that she p*eed where he ancestors weren't even allowed to walk! (click image for larger view)

Wednesday we visited the Pearl Factory, Summer Palace, Panda Zoo, Temple of Heaven, and the Kung Foo Show. We left the hotel at 8:30 am and didn't return until after 9:00 PM! That's a very long day with two small children but they did great and we had a wonderful time!

Thursday we went to the Jade Factory, Great Wall, Clossine Factory and the Hutong Tour.

Tomorrow (Friday) is a free day and we're going shopping! Not really to buy anything (we have no space in our luggage!) but mostly just to look at all the fun stuff we *might* buy if we had space. :)

Saturday we'll say goodbye to Aunt Laura and meet up with Daddy again and head to the airport to fly to Xian. I hope to be better about blogging after we leave Beijing and we have Daddy around!

April 17, 2008

After spending the whole day staring at stacks of clothes to decide what to stuff into four suitcases nearly filled up with everything other than clothing, we got everything packed and loaded into the mini-van for the trip to the airport. The girls were incredibly excited about the plane trip so we let them stay up until we left for the airport at about 10:30 PM. We thought they'd fall asleep during the hour long drive to SFO but they were still excited and oblivious to just about anything other than getting on that plane. Michael graciously offered to drive us so we didn't have to hassle with long term parking, dragging luggage and kids and car seats on and off of shuttle buses and high parking fees. We gave him $100 and a $50 Trader Joe's gift card as a "thank you". He also agreed to take possession of the cat for the next 3.5 weeks and check on the house from time to time. So far so good.

We pulled up in front of the Cathay Pacific terminal and Andrew started pulling suitcases out of the back of the van while Gwen started vomiting all over herself and her car seat. She was wearing the PJ's we intended her to wear for the 14 hour flight to Hong Kong and she was sitting in the car seat we intended her to sleep in during that flight. 10 minutes later, we were standing in line to check luggage while frantically digging through suitcases for clean clothing to cover our sad tired shivering little girl. I got her cleaned up with antibacterial wipes and stuffed the soiled clothing into zip-loc bags (I always travel with a bunch of those!) while Daddy used antibacterial wipes to clean up the car seat and that worked pretty well too. We cleared that hurdle then headed to our gate to wait to board the plane and our two happy girls ran around charming the heck out of everyone.

We pre-reserved a bulkhead row on the plane so we were looking forward to our worn-out kids sleeping peacefully in their comfy seats for most of this flight. With a 1:30 AM takeoff time, we were almost certain everyone would be tired enough and comfortable enough to sleep for most of the trip. With that in mind, we boarded the plane and reached our assigned row only to see that it was obviously NOT the bulk head. The flight attendant looked at our reservation itinerary and told us that our pre-reserved seat row wasn't the bulk head on this plane. I didn't understand how that was possible because I used www.seatguru.com and knew where the bulk head was and I was looking at that site when I was on the phone talking to the Cathay Pacific agent. In the end, it turned out that we had an aircraft type change and row 36 wasn't bulk head on this plane. Now we had several interesting problems to solve and the most important one was that our car seats won't really work anywhere other than the bulk head.

My girls have legs but, unfortunately, there's no room for legs if they're in the car seat and there is a row of seats in front of us. Plus, the person in front of is certain to get kicked constantly for 14 hours and won't ever be able to recline without injuring my child so I'll spend the whole flight watching them to make sure they don't attempt it (and heaven help them if they do!). There wasn't any other choice: we had to have the seats checked as luggage and fly without them. W.I.T.H.O.U.T them. A sobering realization even if you're not drinking (and we weren't yet. Okay, we didn't drink at all but it might have helped...)

Gwen and Maddy have only slept in two places the entire time they've been our daughters: Their crib/toddler bed and their car seat. They have never ever slept in a chair and this fight wasn't going to quickly be an exception.

At 4:00 AM (their time), both of our lovely little girls were still wide awake and seeking entertainment any place they could find it. They found it by playing 15 times with every travel toy we brought (and hauled in and out of the overhead compartment) and destroying the contents of the seat pocket in front of them. Then they used their seat cushion as a trampoline and made conversation with all of the sleeping passengers around them. Finally, they collapsed like a dropped marionette and fell into a coma-like sleep that lasted about three hours before jolting awake and screaming and kicking in exhaustion induced hysteria that they wanted off of the plane and wanted to go home. Several passengers were probably more than willing to help them get off the plane but the flight was just barely half way to destination and we were 33,000 feet over the ocean and hundreds of miles from land. There were still another 6 or 7 hours to kill. Andrew managed to kill most of it by sleeping (not sure how) while I dozed off and on for a sum total of about two hours while the kids did the same. It's a blur to me now so there's not much more I can write about it other than to say that the "kids meal" we pre-ordered was excellent! There was enough food in two of those to feed all four of us and the food was actually good!

We finally arrived in Hong Kong at 6:30 AM (local time) and made our way through baggage claim and customs without delay. Then we searched for the B13 counter so we could catch a pre-paid shuttle to the hotel. We found the counter, got our sticker, stood in line then took off in a mad dash through the airport to the bus terminal (I swear, the locals practically run with their luggage carts and, like folks in mainland China, seem to have made an national passtime out of cutting you off or cutting in front of you).

I couldn't run with my cart for three reasons:

It was piled so high with four suitcases and two car seats that I couldn't see over the top.

Gwen and Maddy were in front of me -- running slowly while wearing their heavy backpacks -- and I didn't want to run them over.

Andrew wasn't with us. He took a flight to Taiwan immediately after kissing us goodbye at the B13 counter.

Everyone else got to the elevator and bus a full minute before we did and I didn't see which of four buses they boarded. I watched one pull away as I tried to remember the name of our hotel so I could flag someone down and ask which bus we should be on. I stopped to dig our hotel reservation out of my backpack and as I pulled my bag off my back, the girls begged to take off their backpacks too because they were tired from running with them. I didn't see the harm so I let them. I committed the hotel name to memory, shoved the paperwork back into my backpack and reached for my children.

Then I noticed that Gwen was missing.

I totally lost my mind as I stared at the empty places where several large buses had previously been. Did she get on that bus? I grabbed Maddy by the hand and ran around frantically calling Gwen's name. A few people were looking at me and smiling since they couldn't know that this strange word the Caucasian woman was screaming was the name of her three year old daughter.

Before we left home, I made special little tags for each of the girls and attached the tags to their backpacks. The tags explained that they were US citizens and don't speak any language other than English even though they are Chinese. Our name and cell phone number is on that tag as is the name of the US Embassy. I also intended to put the name of our hotel there too (but I didn't). So Gwen was lost and she didn't have her little tag. She knows her name but when she says it, it sounds like "Whnee Tonkess" (We call her Gwenny and neither of our girls can pronounce the G so it's always "Whnee". If you know our real last name, you'll understand how close yet far away her pronunciation is).

I really had a horrible feeling of dread that she was gone forever. I fleetingly wondered if this was how "lost" children in other countries eventually end up in orphanages and get adopted by other families. It seemed horrifyingly possible. Who do you contact if you lose your 3 year old in Hong Kong? I wanted to die but I had to still be a functioning parent to Maddy. Then Maddy squeezed my hand and looked at me and said "Mommy, there's Whnee". And she pointed to her standing behind that mountain of luggage on our cart.

I held both of my babies in my lap all the way to our hotel. They fell asleep as soon as the bus started moving and slept the entire way there with their pretty faces pressed against my chest. It was a long drive but I didn't mind. It was the best 30 minutes of my day and probably a half hour of my life that I'm likely to always remember.

April 11, 2008

We leave next Tuesday for a three week vacation in China. Unlike our two prior trips, we plan to come home with exactly as many children as we had when we started (darn!). We're going to Hong Kong, Beijing, Xian, Hangzhou, Wuzhen, Suzhou, Shanghai, Guilin, and Qinzhou. In addition to the usual touristy stuff, we'll visit blogger friends in Shanghai and Maddy's foster family in Qinzhou.

We'll post to this blog while we're away (not the password blog).

Packing has turned into my latest obsession. Regardless of how many heavy suitcases we're allowed for the international flight, we only get one 44 pound suitcase per person for the rest of our travel in China. I've been trying to make the most out of each and every pound!

When you toss in the essential stuff like Pull-ups (we need 100 of them!), computers and electronics, DVD's, camera, toiletries, and a small assortment of toys, it quickly becomes obvious that there's not much room for clothes. Since laundering an item typically costs at least as much as the original purchase price of the item, I'm trying to pack only things that can easily be washed in the hotel bathroom sink and hanged in the shower to dry overnight. Obviously, nothing with full cotton content is allowed within 10 feet of any of our suitcases. I'm also restricting myself and the girls to one color scheme of clothing so everything matches everything else and we don't need more than two pairs of shoes each. Ha! Well see how that goes!

We're taking the car seats that we purchased during our 2006 China trip. This is probably the last time we'll be able to use them but they've been worth their weight in gold since we've used them on many flights and the girls sleep so blissfully in them. We can't use them on any of the China Southern flights inside China so we're crossing our fingers that we can leave them at our Hong Kong hotel for the duration of our trip and retrieve them on the day before we fly home (we're staying at the same hotel on the first and last days of our trip). I've been afraid to seek permission in advance to do this since I don't want to hear a "no" answer. Instead, I'll wait until I'm there and my two pretty little girls are standing next to me and we'll all bat our eyelashes in unison and hope the hotel will agree to hold the car seats for 2.5 weeks. If they won't, we'll ditch them. That's life.